


Of The Sea

by Blue_Cat11



Category: Original Work
Genre: BL, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Character, Injury, Kinda, M/M, Original Male Characters - Freeform, Original work - Freeform, merman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 13:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12912447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Cat11/pseuds/Blue_Cat11
Summary: An original fiction of a human man nursing an injured merman back to health. When his injury doesn't get better, it becomes a life and death situation that could break up their newly-constructed friendship. Or is it more than a friendship?





	Of The Sea

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so bad at descriptions! >.< Also, this was only edited by me so i'm sorry for any mistakes ;^^

Everything hurt as he laid on the dry sand too far from the waves. His tail thrashed as much as he could muster it to go, but to no avail. The gills cut deep into his sides were red and gaping with too much oxygen and not enough water.

How long had it been like this? Days or weeks? Neither, he reminded himself. He had been stranded on the sand for hours, but it might as well have been days. It did not matter the length he was here if he was going to die anyway. His family would not need to know the details to be able to mourn.

Maris reached to his side and felt wetness, but it was not water. The red scales on his tail d the blood well. He could hardly differentiate scales from blood on the shimmering texture of his arms either. His long, black hair stuck to the wetness. He put his arm back to his side and laid his head on the sand. He might as well get comfortable for the inevitable. When he was about to close his eyes, a sound in the silence startled him. The sand crunched underneath something in the near distance. Maris lifted his head with little strength and was again startled.

A human man was walking along the beach, just in view of the injured merman. Whoever he was, he had no idea Maris was here as well. He hoped it stayed like that. Maris sighed, then coughed at the intake of oxygen. The human stopped walking, he was closer now.

"Hloel?" the man asked. Maris heard the sound the man made, but it was gibberish.

"Hloel?" the man repeated, "si anoeyne trehe?" He began to walk in the merman's direction. Again, Maris could not understand, but he knew it couldn't have been good if it made him start to come over.

He thrashed his tail again to try and get to the water several feet away. Nothing. He wasn’t strong enough with his injury. The man was only a few yards from him now. Maris took drastic measures and used his long nails to dig into the sand. He then pushed with all his might and was able to shift himself back an inch. He continued like this until the muscles in his arms felt like jelly and his nails were almost all broken. He had only been able to move six inches. The man was close, close enough now to see that the person he was coming over to help, was no person.

He stopped in his tracks when he finally saw the large, red tail jutting out from behind Maris. He stared at him like he was a ghost. The merman could feel his gaze like hot knives. "Prohibere," Maris whispered.

His words snapped the human from his daze. "Yuo...yuo cna tlak?" Maris looked at him blankly. "Wlel um, I spsopeu tasht ntpo iormpnatt nwo." He stepped closer. "Wow! Loko at yuo!"

Maris winced at the shouting. "Prohibere," he said again as he shifted his body away from the other man.

The human knelt down in front of him, a goofy smile on his lips. "Wow," he whispered to himself. "Yreuo a," he looked at Maria's face," do yuo konw wtah you aer?"

The man seemed to have no idea Maris could not understand him. His face was too close now; Maris could see his own reflection in the man's green eyes. It wasn't until the man lifted his hand up above the merman's tail that Maris had a full reaction. His tail swatted at the air harder than it had before as he used his arms again to push himself back.

"Wtah aer yuo digno?" he asked as he gingerly touched Maris's shoulder.

"Abite!" Maris screamed as he barred his sharp teeth at the man. The man stood up immediately with his arms up in a show of innocence.

After several grueling seconds, he was back onto wet sand. He could see the thick trail of blood he had left. "Yuoer hrtu, lte me hlpe." The man said loudly for Maris to hear.

The merman ignored him as he shimmied his way back until he was in the water. His gills burnt with salt water, a feeling he gladly accepted. Once the man saw him in the water, he began to walk closer again. Maris swam outward a bit until the strain on his tail was too much. Normally he would have been fine, but with an already exhausted and dehydrated body, not to mention an injured tail, it was nearly impossible to move, even in the sea.

"Yuo wnot be aleb to gte fra whti tath tila of ysuro. Tesrehs a btei in it, fro crigny otu ludo!" He waded into the water.

"Prohibere," he warned.

"I dnto konw wtah yeour sygnia, btu I wnot hrut yuo. Lte me hple. I'm a boilgitos," he chuckled, "I konw hwo fshi wrok. I cna gte yuo htaehly aangi."

All Maris heard was gibberish, which made him not want to listen. However, the look in the man's eyes was genuine and full of hope and care. Perhaps he should go with him. But then again...

"Nihil." The human paid no mind to his response as he continued to wade into the water. “Nihil!” he shouted as he thrashed about to get farther from the intruder. Suddenly, his vison blurred and it was difficult to keep his head upright. “Quid est…?” he mumbled. The smell surrounding the water changed from salty to putrid. Maris looked down to see a river of blood coming from him, soaking into the sea and forming a dark circle. It was a lot of blood. Did he really have that much?

He had no time to think of an answer as his was falling into the water now. He couldn’t breathe, the gills on his side closed tight to keep the blood out. He heard splashing from above before arms plunged into the waves to grasp him. Maris smiled weakly, delusional from the blood loss. The last thing he felt before going unconscious was being pulled from the water into warm arms.

                                    *                                  *                                  *

Maris woke underwater. His first instinct was to hold his breath and flee to the surface. There was blood around him and—

            There was no blood. He experimentally opened his gills and took a small puff in; it was clean. Where was he? Maris pushed his tail out and cringed when he met resistance. He looked down to see a large, white bandage covering half his tail where the bite had been. He cocked his head to the side, confused. He swam forward slowly until he hit a clear barrier.

            “Ah, yuoer akwae,” the man said. Maris jumped slightly in shock before turning his head to find the voice. “Ovre hrer,” he said as he gestured. He caught the merman’s attention as Maris shifted to look. He eyed the man with caution and skepticism. The human sighed. “I araeldy tldo yuo. I wlil nto hrtu yuo.” Maris cocked his head again.

            “Tu loqueris novis,” Maris said, his voice normal despite the water.

The man’s face lit up at the merman’s speech. “Yuo sopek ainga. Wtah lngaaegu is taht?”

Maris was silent.

“Rgith, yuo cnaotn udrentsnda,” he said a bit sadly. The man remained silent for several moments, his face scrunched in concentrated thought. “I hvea an iead!” he shouted, startling Maris. “Sroyr.” The man stepped closer to the tank of water. Maris backed up. The man shook his head and raised his hands to show he meant no harm. He kept them up as he slowly moved a hand up to point at himself. “Aexl.” His gesturing continued as he continuously stated the word. “Aexl. Alxe. Alxe. Alex.”

“Alex,” Maris whispered, the word feeling strange on his lips.

The man’s mouth opened wide in a silent gasp. “Yuo siad my nmae. A mremna jsut siad my nmae.” A large grin spread over his face.

“Alex?” Maris said again, not entirely sure of its significance.

“Oh yse. Alex,” he gestured to himself again. Maris’s eyebrows knitted together before the cogs in his mind began to turn.

“Tu es Alex?” A small grin formed on his lips, in hopes he was correct.

“Yse! I konw enuhgo to konw wtah yuo aer syangi. Yse, _ego sum_ Alex.” The man, Alex, had a smile so wide, his face could have broken in two. He approached the glass tank further until he could touch the cool surface with his palm. The action sent Maris to the other side of the tank within a second, his back pressed against the barrier. “Srory, srory,” Alex said as he retreated.

Maris winced at a slight pain in his tail that had just made itself known. “Dolor,” he whispered, looking down in shock to see a red bandage instead of a white one.

“Oh gdo,” Alex said with wide eyes before rushing to a ladder attached to the tank. Maris had dropped to the bottom of the tank, the pain in his tail too much to be able to swim. When he reached out to touch the bandage, a swirl of red wafted off him and into the water. His gills twitched. Alex climbed to the top of the tank to rest his torso on the inwardly-protruding shelf of the tank. “Yuo msut hvea mvode teh bagden wehn yuo sawm aywa. Cmoe hree so I cna dsers it.” Maris didn’t move, frozen in fear and pain. Alex reached his hand down to scrape the water’s edge. Maris could see him straining to reach further, but he still refused to move closer to the human.

Just as Alex seemed to be close to falling into the tank, a loud ringing echoed throughout the room. Maris shut his eyes tight as he wrapped his bleeding tail around his body, much to the protest of the appendage. Alex retreated his hand from the water with a sorrow expression. “Jsut in teim,” he whispered to himself glumly in a soft enough voice that Maris barely picked it up. Alex crawled off the lip of the tank before climbing down the ladder and slipping out the door.

Maris was still as he waited for a sign the human was gone. When he heard no footsteps or the man’s speech, he cracked open one eye. Nothing. Maris sighed under the water as he unwrapped his tail from around himself. The ringing stopped moments later.

“This could be my chance,” Maris thought to himself as he eyed the open cavity of the tank. He swam to the surface before taking a large breath of water into his gills and popped his head above the water. His vision blurred as his eyes adjusted to the dry air. His long hair stuck to his face in wet streaks. When he determined the coast was still clear, he grabbed onto the lip of the tank and heaved his body up.

With a few tries and attempted jumps, Maris was able to reach the lip. He slid forward to accommodate his tail. The end of his tail was still submerged in the water, but his gills were completely surrounded by air. In his celebration, he forgot he could not breathe the human’s dry oxygen and opened his gills. Water spills out from his sides, dehydrating him in a matter of seconds. His only option was to fall back into the tank.

When he was about to turn around and crawl back to the lip’s edge, the door Alex had exited from opened. Maris gasped, only hindering him more. He rotated to face the open cavity, but the bandage wound tightly around his injured tail snagged on a corner, ripping it and digging the cloth deeper in the metal’s hold. The red merman scrambled to free himself, pulling his tail away from the rip in hopes the bandage would rip completely and he would be free to fall back into the water. Instead, he slipped on the wet platform, sending him falling onto the hard tile floor of the lab.

                                    *                                  *                                  *

Maris saw a faint, yet bright light in his vision. “Yullo be fnie,” someone said above him. He smiled, not sure of what was happening. The light disappeared before coming back in a slightly different spot. He could make out a blurred silhouette behind the light.

“Fessus sum,” Maris mumbled to the voice. He was tired.

“Yullo be fnie…” the voice said again as the light faded.

                                    *                                  *                                  *

Maris awoke with a fright. The last thing he remembered was falling from the top of the tank to the floor and presumably blacking-out. His head pounded in his skull. He lifted his left hand up to rub at his head, but quickly discovered a bandage around two of his fingers.

“I woludtn ues taht hnda if I wrer yuo,” Alex warned. Maris froze. The human was still here? “Yuo toko qiute teh flla,” he walked over to the side of the tank Maris was facing. Green eyes met black. Maris looked up to see the tank now had a full lid which would make it impossible to escape. “Dnto wnat you htrunig yuosrlef aigna.” Alex smiled. “Nwo,” he said as he made his way to the ladder, “tihs lngueaga brriear is nto hlepngi us.” He grabbed a stack of bound papers from his desk before climbing up the ladder and opening a small hatch in the lid. Maris stayed where he was, resting at the bottom of the tank. Alex dropped the pages into the water before closing the hatch and stepping down the ladder. The papers sank down to Maris where he watched them fall until carefully taking hold of the book.

Maris had been around paper in his time in the ocean and he knew it was supposed to dissolve into the water. This paper, however, stayed in one piece as well as felt like plastic. A think film of plastic covered each page. He looked at Alex suspiciously. “Rdea,” he instructed. Maris looked down at the first page and read the first words: English Dictionary.

                                    *                                  *                                  *

Maris carefully folded the last page of the dictionary over to reveal the smooth back cover. He had been reading and trying to understand for hours, his mind filled with the new language. His mind may have been buzzing with questions, yet he was certain beyond doubt he knew the language fluently now.

Merfolk were intelligent beyond anything humans had seen or even imagined. Many of Maris’ people were skilled in dozens of languages and even more customs. He sighed at the thought since he was nothing like his people. He was scared of his own bubbles, not to mention his first time at the surface had been because to his injury. Part of him wished Alex had never found him and he had just died on the beach. However, he was grateful. As if on cue, the biologist opened the door leading into the lab to find Maris finished with the book. He smiled as he approached.

“How has the reading been? Gotten the hang of any words? Or is this all still gibberish?” His face fell at the last sentence. All Maris could do was stare. He would understand every word, every syllable even. When he had heard the man speak before, he had been too concerned with not understanding and being afraid of the unknown words that he had not noticed the voice itself. It sounded nice, he had to admit. He could definitely get used to hearing it.

The red merman cleared his throat, going over the words he planned to use. “Your words are clear to me now.” He could feel his face heat up. His tongue felt odd creating these new sounds, but the effect of them left a wonderful response.

Alex’s eyes widened in astonishment. His moth opened and closed as if he was meaning to speak, yet just couldn’t get enough air. “Y-you know the whole lang...” he started.

“It was not that difficult. My language is not as complex, yet it is no easy feat either.”

“You,” a smile formed on his lips. “You’re amazing.” He walked to the tank’s side closest to Maris before laying his open palms against the glass. A look of astonishment melted in with the grin.

“Eh, I would not go straight to amazing,” he said to humble himself, the tip of his tail swishing nervously.

“You learned an entire language in three hours! That. Is. Amazing.” His face was pushed so close against the glass that small puffs of fog appeared above his mouth.

“Please,” he frowned, “I did not do this for you to gawk at me.” He crossed his arms, careful to avoid contact with his wounded fingers. “If you would not mind,” he eyes narrowed slightly, “explaining why you brought me here and who you are. I only know your name.”

Alex shot back from the glass like he had been electrocuted. The blush spread thick across his face could have been evidence towards that theory. “Oh um yeah, that. Well, for starters my name is Alex Rem. Technically, it’s Doctor Alex Rem, but that’s not too important.” He paused.

“Go on,” Maris encouraged.

“I’m a biologist with a degree in molecular regeneration. I study injuries in mammals and aquatic life. Like how fast a limb grows back and stuff. Very scientific, I know.” His smile morphed into a smirk, one eyebrow raised.

“Was that a joke?” Alex’s face fell slightly. “It was funny,” Maris said with a small chuckle. Alex sighed in relief.

“Glad you thought so. The end remark was a joke, yeah. But I really am a biologist studying…studying what I just said. Meaning that you, sir, were very lucky someone specializing in injuries happened to find you.” He eyed the bandaged bite. “How did you get that anyway?” Maris was about to start his story, when he was stopped. “Wait, wait, wait. Where are my manners? Please, tell me your name and something about yourself.”

“Oh,” was all he could think of. Did he trust this human enough to reveal information as valuable as his name? This human had saved him, and he was grateful, however…

“C’mon, I won’t bite.,” Alex teased.

Maris gulped before taking a breath. It was now or never. “My name is Maris Jac Necesvibus, but please, just Maris is all I ask.”

“Wow,” Alex whispered.

“I am from a small tribe of merfolk off the coast of what you humans refer to as ‘Spain.’” He used air quotes when he spoke the country’s name.

“You’re far from home, Maris. This is England. How did you get all the way out here?”

He cringed at the memory the human’s words brought. “There,” he sighed, “There had been a shark watching us for days. Every day I would see it hiding in the depths of a cave or trailing behind several hundred meters away. I thought it was just scavenging off our food scraps, but that was not the case. One night I decided to go out for a swim to move my tail since our small shelters were not large enough to fully stretch out.”

“You have a beautiful one,” Alex interrupted.

“I’m sorry?”

“Your tail. You have a beautiful tail,” he stated quickly. “The red is so vibrant, and the scales look like cut marbles. Not to mention how nice they feel. Very smooth, but kinda slimy if I do say so myself. Do all merfolk tails feel the same?” Maris heard the question, but his brain was too preoccupied to form an answer. Alex had touched him, he had to have. That was the only explanation as to how he got into the tank and how he was bandaged. The human man with the beautiful voice had touched his tail, an appendage viewed close to sacred for merfolk. Maris felt hot all of a sudden. He could feel the ghost of Alex’s hands wandering all over his skin. “Are you okay?” Alex asked when he noticed the awkward gestures Maris was making.

There was that voice again. “I am okay. I was just hit with a feeling of tiredness.”

“That’s right, the only sleep you’ve had was from blacking out. You must be very tired.” Maris nodded. He did not want to lie to the man, but what choice did he have? “I’ll leave you for a while so you can sleep,” the human said as he grabbed things from around the room.

“Yes,” was all Maris could think to say. His skin was still burning, even with the cool water surrounding his body.

Alex looked up from a desk. “Are you sure you’re feeling well?”

“Ah, yes. I am fine.” He smiled as best he could, his jaw aching.

Alex looked him over skeptically. “Uh-huh, okay.” He picked up the last of his things before heading to the door. “I’ll just be in the other room, so feel free to holler if you need me.”

“I will do that,” he said just as awkwardly and forced as before.

“Right.” With that, Alex opened the door, clicked the lights off, and left.

                                    *                                  *                                  *

Maris had been in Alex’s company for two months after their initial meet and much had happened in that time. Maris had learned to trust his savior, telling him all about his village and its people. Alex had returned the act with bringing in movies and photos of life on the surface. For the first time, Maris felt as if he belonged somewhere. It was not ideal since he was still in the tank in Alex’s lab, but it was better than being afraid, like in the ocean. That feeling began to fade when the first symptoms appeared.

“How long does it take for merfolk to heal wounds? It takes humans a matter of weeks,” Alex said as he examined Maris’s wound.

Alex had opened the tank back up after the first week when Maris had told him he felt no need to escape anymore. The biologist was sitting on the protruding lip of the tank, his legs dangling down with his feet underwater. Maris was on his back at the surface, his head against one wall and his tail in Alex’s lap. His sides were still submerged, making it possible to continue breathing comfortably. “Why do you ask?” Maris wondered out loud.

“Well, you haven’t healed yet. In fact,” his brows knitted together before looking up from the tail to Maris’s face, “it’s gotten worse.”

“What?” he said, his blood going cold. He had noticed the wound was still there and that the scales surrounding it had begun to fall, but he hadn’t considered it bad.

“Your scales are beginning to fall off. They’ve been floating around the water for days.” As if to prove his point, a scale under Alex’s hand flecked off before delicately dropping into the water. “I don’t think that’s supposed to happen. It doesn’t happen to fish unless the wound is infected. I cleaned your wound as thoroughly as I know how, and it hasn’t shown any signs of infection.”

Maris shrugged, not sure of what answer to give.

“Aren’t you worried?” Alex asked.

“Sure I am, but I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Then start by telling me how long it takes to heal yousef. An estimate.”

Maris thought. When he was a boy and broke his arm playing with the other kids, it had taken two days for the bone to heal. Then there was the time when he was a teen; he had scraped his fin bad enough to need stiches. That had taken a matter of hours to heal. “I would say we have a very high restoration time. Bones can heal in days.”

“If that’s the case then this is not good. Not good at all.” He ran his gloved hand over the wound, but stopped when the red skin tensed and twitched. “Are you okay?” He did not look up, too focused on the wound. “Maris? Hey, Mari-” He was stopped abruptly when he heard the sound of water dripping into the tank. “Are you crying?” he asked and when no response came, he finally looked up.

To Alex’s complete horror, the dripping had not been tears, but blood. Maris had just spit up blood. The red liquid was dripping from his mouth, down his chin, and into the water. “Maris,” he whispered. “Oh god, Maris!” Alex dropped the large tail back into the water before getting on his stomach and grabbing Maris’s shoulders before he could sink. His skin was colder and paler than Alex had remembered. “Stay with me, buddy. Please,” he begged. The water was turning red from all the blood coming from the merman’s wound and mouth.

“Wh-what is going on?” Maris asked, his words slurred.

Alex pulled him up enough to where they could talk and Maris could still breathe. His face was covered with worry. “Maris, listen closely. Are you listening?”

“Ye-yes,” he said distantly.

“Maris, please. Listen,” he begged as his grip on the other man’s shoulders strengthened. “What do you know about your regenerative ability? What keeps it going?”

“I do not know.” He groaned before more blood poured from his mouth. This time his nose also dripped.

“Maris please! Think, damnit, think!” Alex shook him. The image of the ocean flashed before the merman’s eyes. The scent of the salt and the feel of the soft, white foam. He had never felt so desperately drawn to it before. “Maris, answer me,” Alex said, on the verge of yelling again.

“The ocean. We have a bond. We all do.” His eyes lit up at the thought of the entity.

Alex tensed. “Is there any other way?” Maris grew heavier in his grip, his eyes drooping.

“Am I dying?” he asked as casually as someone asked if it was raining.

Alex’s vision blurred with tears. “No, y-you’ll be fine.”

                                    *                                  *                                  *

Maris had coughed up more blood than he knew he had in his body. Most of it was now dried onto his skin and scales, making it very uncomfortable to move. Not that he even had to strength to move. “You’ll be fine,” Alex said from above him. He was being carried by the human across the beach to the water. He could smell the salt.

“Al…Alex,” he whispered through the pain in his throat.

“Please, don’t speak,” he instructed.

“But…” He reached up to touch his slightly stubbled face. Alex was about to move his face away when Maris spoke again. “If I die-”

“Don’t say that!” he hissed. “Just…just don’t. You won’t,” he gulped, “die. I won’t let you.” He nuzzled his cheek into the cold, scaled hand. Maris smiled weakly. He could see the ocean better now. The glistening waves caught the sun’s rays perfectly, creating a beautiful view of the setting sun’s reflection. “We’re almost there. Hold on, please.”

Maris gulped around the blood forming in his throat again. He gargled on it as his muscles were too weak now to control resistance. The red liquid dripped onto Alex’s arm and onto the sand. “I…” he started, but could not finish. The weight of his body increased in Alex’s arms.

“Maris?” Alex asked, alarmed at the weight shift. His tail dropped limply over his arm. “Maris!” he yelled to get his attention. His black eyes were fixed on a spot beyond the horizon, a small grin stuck to his face. Alex stopped in his tracks, his legs feeling like jelly. Tears swelled in his eyes again as he let his head drop. Tears fell onto Maris’s cold, pale skin. Alex had every intention of breaking down in the sand at that moment, but then he felt a small twitch in his arms. “Maris?” he asked quietly, hopefully. He could see the small movement in the merman’s throat as he swallowed. That small movement was what gave him a sudden bolt of energy, sending him running down the rest of the stretch of sand until his toes touched the waves.

He waded in, making sure Maris was submerged quickly. “There, you see? The ocean, the ocean, Maris.” He said to the still figure in his arms. Too still. “Maris?” he asked. “Maris?!” he yelled frantically. He shook the merman before pushing him fully under the water.

Nothing.

He slowly brought him back up, searching for any sign of life.

Nothing.

“Maris,” he whispered, the tears coming back at full force. “Maris, no. I-I,” he sniffled before a chocked sob escaped his lips. He gulped around the lump in his throat. His head hurt, the pounding something he had never experienced. “I love,” he paused as another sob ripped from his throat, “I love you. So much. So, so much.” He clenched his lips shut. “Damnit, why?” he asked to no one. His chest ached. It felt as if his heart would burst any second.

He stood in the waves for hours, never moving as he stood over the dead merman in the shallow waters. His limbs and torso had grown numb in the cold ocean. It was approaching dawn. He took in a shaky breath, head titled down to look upon his lost friend.

            How would he bury him? Would he need a burial at all? Did merfolk prefer a watery grave? Or just to be dropped to the ocean floor? He felt sick to his stomach thinking like this. The thought of needing to prepare Maris’s death made him feel sick to his stomach.

            He was so caught up in the matter that when he felt something touch his arm, he screamed. “Wh-oh my god,” he mumbled in fear as he looked around. Maris’s body had shifted from being faced west to facing north-west. He knew he hadn’t touched him enough to rotate him. “M-Maris?” he asked. He stared at the merman, unblinking, for the longest ten seconds of his life. Maris’s form flinched and twitched at Alex’s contact before he lifted his head out of the water.

“H-hi,” he stuttered, his voice dry despite having been in water for hours.

Alex had never felt such a wave of relief and joy wash over him. “Maris!” he shrieked as he jumped on him and hugged him as tightly as he could. He never wanted to let go, just to hold onto the merman for as long as forever lasted. Maris happily hugged back.

It wasn’t for several minutes that Alex was able to let go. “You-you’re alive,” he said, smiling from ear to ear. Tracks of his tears were easily visible on his cheeks.

“Yes, thanks to you,” Maris responded.

Alex’s face heated up. “But why? You weren’t breathing.”

“I was reserving energy for my healing. I was breathing, just very, very slowly.” He smiled. “You did not need to stay with me the whole time. You must be tired.” He reached up to caress Alex’s cheek once again.

“So you were awake the whole time?” he asked as his heart rate picked up.

“Not the whole time, but for most.”

“Does that mean you heard me?” he asked, hoping Maris knew what he meant.

“I think so,” he said.

“Um, well?” Alex asked, his face a deep shade of red.

“I’ll show you,” Maris said happily before grabbing Alex’s shoulders to hold himself up at Alex’s height.

“Wha-” was all the human was able to say before wet, salty lips covered his.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for my short story class where the prompt was "anything with a plot." I hope I did that since I think I did (somewhat). It actually hasn't even been graded yet, so I have no idea if I missed the mark or not lol. Anyway, I hope it was enjoyable at least ;) Thanks for reading!


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